The Gays and Tennis 36: Indian Wells Finals and Wide Open Miami Edition

In past one year or so, Mirka has lost of weight and she looks somewhat pretty and presentable. What gives?

d

R1 must be a linesman from Miami - needs glasses badly.

I hope Thiem at least makes Federer work for it.

I think Kerber vs. Andreescu will be close

[quote] What gives?

Vending machines.

Prior thread:

Sooner or later things change in tennis and it's time for this becoming a bit messy without clear favourites to win the big titles like it happens in all transitions. In my opinion Nadal and Federer are not in conditions to get into the final rounds at every tournament. Djjokovic is a different story, but he is very far from being the dominat player he was.

Anyway, unfortunately at GS they still have a big advantage because you need to believe in yourself before winning a GS and most players seems unable to do their best at GS against them

Who is "Gramps"?

Seriously, I don't know who he is.

Granny Vee's husband.

Oh well, that clears up everything ...

Shirts off for Wawrinka and Trevor Noah.

Also why is this thread titled for IW/Miami when the last one was for clay season?

R10 the last thread was prematurely talking about clay. I expect us to finish this thread before Miami is over

R11 Ah gotcha. Thanks.

R10, thelsst thread was intended Togo through the beginning of the clay season but filled up very quickly.

R10, the last thread was intended to go through the beginning of the clay season but filled up very quickly.

I am on Thiem team.

The women's final is so dull. I actually switched to Tennis Channel to watch last year's Miami Open men's final with A. Zverev.

Me, too, R16.....and then I switched to COPS.

Is COPS compelling?

How is the final boring? Andreescu is playing pretty well.

You think the Miami final with Isner and Zverev was good? Zverev played like shit and didn't hit enough to Isner's backhand

I don't see how the women's final is boring. Andreescu is playing some amazing tennis and is an exciting prospect.

She's also the first WC to get to the IW final, I believe.

COPS is riveting.....

This is the Sunshine Double time.

When does the Virginia Slims of Florida start?

I want to see Andreescu play Bouchard. She won 6-0 6-1 over Muguruza so this might be a double bagel

Why is Andreescu wrapped like a mummy?

It's about time Canada had a great female player.

Is Kerber journeywoman?

Abanda looked so promising but she never really recovered after the injury she had when she was a junior

R28: Are you joking, don't you?

R28 she’s won three majors!

R7 Gramps is Federer

Two of Kerber's GS wins were over Serena.

[quote] : R28: Are you joking, don't you?

Yes, obviously.

Jesus, Chris Evert is annoying.

COME ON BIANCA!!!

Serving for the match and cramping. OMG.

Wow, Angie is tough.

The match is now exciting in this third set. Bye bye 2018 Miami Open final.

KERBER LOST! YES!

That was a great match.

O Canada!

That guy's erection just filled my tv screen.

Did Bianca really win???? I hope that teaches Genie a lesson about sportsmanship.

Come again, r43???

When they showed the replay of Bianca's winning shot, they cut to her coaching staff standing and cheering. The guy in the middle had a massive erection.

This trophy ceremony is cheesy as fuck. It looks like something out of Eurovision.

18 years old Bianca Andreescu wins the title at Indian Wells. Might well be a threat one day to the domination of tennis female GOAT and Canadian fellow countrywoman Genie Bouchard.

I don't want that gypsy coming near me

Meanwhile in Miami, Carlo's showing off some abs

R50, what's his workout routine? I want abs like that.

Chris Evert says that Adreescu and her parents immigrated to Canada with two suitcases, and she just wants to earn enough so that they can travel with her. However, according to her wikipedia, the girl was born in Canada, her father is an engineer and her mother is CFO of a company in Toronto. what is the truth?

R52- Bianca was born in Mississauga. Maybe Chris thinks that's somewhere in Romania.

R52 Andreescu has already earned something along the lines of $300k so bringing her parents along to IW wouldn't have been much of a stretch.

From what I know, she trained in Romania for a while which raised some eyebrows about whether she was indeed Canadian or worthy of the Canadian Tennis Federation's support. As any tennis fan will know pretty much every single tennis player these days has some kind of weirdness about their nationality.

[quote] As any tennis fan will know pretty much every single tennis player these days has some kind of weirdness about their nationality.

Like, um, I don't know what you mean and, um, well, like....(trails off into whispered gibberish).

Osaka's would seem less weird if she didn't have such a thing about speaking Japanese.

Osaka would seem less weird if she didn't have such a thing about speaking.

Miami both qualie draws and women's main are all out. Men's main is tomorrow. Skip the rest of my post if you want to the draw yourself without a spoiler

While Andreescu wins IW, Bouchard is in Miami qualifying. Who does she draw? Her new struggle-Nao Hibino. Hibino is 3-0 with all their matches being last year and each getting progressively easier.

Tsonga drew Rosol and the winner will likely face Cuevas, just to qualify! There are a lot of tough matches in both qualie draws. There's a mix of young talents and former top 30, 20 and even 10 players

Women's main draw-How's this for a section? If Andreescu wins her first match she'll play the other young player on a recent hot streak, Kenin with that winner likely to play Kerber. Tennis has a funny way of having new rivals facing each other again quickly. In IW, we saw that rematch of the Acapulco final between Wang and Kenin. Now we could see an IW final match in the third round of Miami!

We also could get another Osaka-Hsieh style clash in the third round.

Muguruza and Wozniacki are set for the third round too if Woz doesn't lose to Sasnovich first

Azarenka cannot escape tough draws in her comeback. She draws Cibulkova with the winner to face Garcia.

Defending champ Stephens will open against the winner of Van Uytvanck/Jabeur (who clobbered her in Moscow last year) and Giorgi is also in that section

Mari Osaka draws fellow WC Whitney Osuigwe. The winner gets Collins in a section headed by Svitolina

Serena is in a section with Q. Wang and Konta

Kasatkina who's struggling to win matches at all this year will open against a WC winner-either McNally or Gauff. Venus is in that section and faces a qualifier with the winner to face Suarez Navarro

and Federer with a comfy 6-3. Thiem got broken, broke back and then broken again. Sigh

Thanks, R58--I see the women's qualifying draw on the MO site, but not the men's? Only a pic of part of the men's qualifying draw is listed in the MO Twitter. And the MO isn't even listed yet for draws and such on the ATP website. Where is the men's qualifying draw posted? The tweets on the MO Twitter are understandably still complaining about Tsonga and FAA being in the qualies...

R60 you can save this link and go to it each week (except for slams) to check draws as they're published. Enable your adobe flash to see it

Thanks, R61!

Thiem with some momentum!!

but can he keep it up...

Gramps is done.

Indian Wells, what a horrific place. British Columbian rich white conservative fucksticks inhabit the place for the winter.

R65 = Milos Raonic.

[quote]but can he keep it up...

all night!

Exciting stuff - except for the commentary.....LOL

zzzzzzzzzz

Thiem is serving for the title.

Domicakes!

Thiem team!

Thiem!!! Kudos to him for holding his nerve to serve out the match.

The DL cover boy jinx worked.

Is Domicakes' ass a "Sunshine Double"?

As he signed the camera lens, you could see his hand shake with adrenaline. He was really flying in that last set.

Team THIEM!!!!

Thiem team.

Thiem was belting the ball in the 3rd set. I was impressed that he kept that pace up. Thiem has a good serve, too. Thiem should have beaten Nadal at the US Open in 2018. He really blew that match. Maybe we will finally see the younger generation start to win some of these titles.

I recall when someone here referred to Domicakes as the young man with the cantilevered ass.

Thanks R32. I don't remember Federer being so furry, but I see it now.

[quote]While Andreescu wins IW, Bouchard is in Miami qualifying.

Genie was next in line to enter the main draw, but no more players have withdrawn

Impressed with Thiem. We know he hits hard with his serve and both groundstrokes, is fast and fit but he often chokes, is inconsistent or tactically dumb. He was able to put everything together today. Yes in typical Thiem fashion, he had some dangerous games in which the door was open for Federer to break. Thiem was quite good after the first set. It's hard to put Federer on the back foot but Thiem did it.

It's so nice to see more players winning Masters events. The next step of course is slams.

[quote] tactically dumb.

Is Shopbottom tactically dumb or strategically dumb?

Current ATP players who have won Masters events (listed in order of winning their first). There are 16 of them. The last 7 winners won between 2017 and now which isn't surprising given the increasing injuries, absences and aging of the big 4

Federer, Nadal, Berdych, Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Tsonga, Cilic, Zverev, Dimitrov,, Sock, Khachanov, Del Potro, Isner, Thiem

They could have waited for 1 day for women 's main draw in Miami. That way Andrea would be eligible for seeding

Thiem Team

Miami update:

OUT: del Potro

IN: Tipsarevic

Next: Kovalik

Tipsarevic is still around? lol time for that homophobe to go away. His body isn't enough as hot as it used to be after all the injuries and gaps in training

19 ATP tournament in 2019

19 different winners.

[quote]That way Andrea would be eligible for seeding

Andrea Jaeger?

[quote] Andrea Jaeger?

Lesbian!

R86 agreed it would make more sense but Miami has been making the women's draw on Sunday for a long time now. You know tennis and tradition.

Bianca Andreescu was #152 at the start of the year.

She was #60 at the start of Indian Wells.

She will be #24 tomorrow.

(Still won't be seeded in Miami cause they use the old rankings, so has to play on Wednesday already!)

A lot of people are suggesting that Bianca should withdraw from Miami

Last three Indian Wells champs

2017: Vesnina

2018: Osaka

2019: Andreescu

Who was the most surprising?

R96 Vesnina because she was never more than a solid, mediocre talent and was a veteran when she won her biggest title. She had a solid game but would usually choke on the biggest stages. She seemed to gain in confidence after she started beating an aging Venus though

Vesnina has beaten Venus a surprising amount of times. One of those weird cases like the year where Alize Cornet beat Serena 3 times.

Andreescu hit 44 winners to Kerber's 16. People can talk all they want about Angie being a 'counterpuncher' or using the aggression of others against them or 'redirecting pace'. But at the end of the day she's really just another Polish pusher. Just one with groundstrokes that aren't as feeble as Wozniacki's or Radwanska's. Still hasn't won a PM title.

R94- I don't follow tennis enough to know if this happens a lot but that seems like an incredible jump up the rankings.

Last month, Laslo Djere spanked Thiem hard in Rio on Thiem's favorite surface; now he wins maybe the 5th biggest tournament.

R90 and R96, I know who you are! Love your posts here and elsewhere. ;)

WHET to Nadal? How is Federer going to improve the H2H if he can't play Nadal on HC.

Love me some DOMI

[quote][R90] and [R96], I know who you are! Love your posts here and elsewhere. ;)

uh...isn't it ESL copy + paste-ing José Morgado's tweets?

Giving Mari Osaka a first round against junior Whitney Osuigwe?

A win/win for IMG. Shameless.

Huh? Fixed draw? I don't know what you're referring t- - OMIGOD LOOK OVER THERE! WHAT IS THAT?

If you recorded the Thiem/Federer match...a few games from the end, Thiem falls on that juicy ass and his shorts slip down. Bare ass on the court. But when he jumps back up they go back into place. Damn elastic.

Just a quick glimpse, unless you're like me and spend 5 minutes going frame by frame. I am gay. This is DL. I feel no shame.

R107, post that for us if you can.

so DL coverboy jinxes seem to be quite effective except they didn't work against Djokovic the last few times we tried lol. He seems impervious to them. Is it his special diet that protects him from our spells?

It’s his boobs out curse, R109.

I doubt a Journalist of Jose Morgado's caliber is posting on DL.

[quote]I doubt a Journalist of Jose Morgado's caliber is posting on DL.

It's not impossible... but, yeah, very unlikely. Especially considering the timing. Finals day is a pretty hectic time for journalists, you're watching both matches, covering live on Twitter with photos and commentary, trying to prioritize whether you go to Andreescu's and Kerber's press conferences or watch the Federer-Theim match (which are happening simultaneously), meanwhile some of the Miami draws have come out so you're reviewing those for commentary. Trying to get information from the tournament director (quotes, attendance numbers, etc.) If he's writing for or commenting for Portugal publications/broadcasts, he's trying to squeeze that in. Not to mention, juggling checking out of his IW hotel, making sure he has his Miami flight and hotel ready, and taking care of whatever might be going on at home with family/friends. Yesterday was a busy day for tennis press.

Having done some presswork for tennis events before, it's funny how the pressroom is the inverse of the player's locker room and their social areas. At the start of the tournament, the locker room and social room is filled with all the players, coaches, agents, family... but at the end of the event, it's pretty much empty, with just the singles and doubles finalists and their entourages. But the press area is quieter at the start of an event, and gets busier and busier as the event goes along, with more writers, more tv people, more photographers, etc. You have more and more people arriving to cover fewer and fewer players.

once again, yet again, federer's age creeps up on him... how many times now in the past couple of years has he led a match, winning easily, have match points and so on and either he mentally goes kaput or something happens... most of the time when a player is well past their prime, they lose easily or never had a chance to win a big title.. in RF's case, it's the opposite, he has leads and blows them.. i mean just against dominic, wins the 1st set comfortably, and then in the span of 15 minutes goes down 4-1 in the second set??... loses the set.. then gets to start off the 3rd set WITH HIS SERVE.. does a total "brain freeze" at 5-5 by hitting 2 dropshots in a row and loses both points (instead of just calmly putting the ball away)? 5 all in a 3rd set is NOT the time to start playing "cutesy" tennis! when your leading 5-0 in the 3rd set and/or 40-0 in a game is when you do this! simplistic strategy that a high schooler would know!......never mind, even at his age, fed should have been much fresher since he got a walkover and thiem had that long 3 setter with raonic... JUST SAYING.... i guess federer fans should just be happy at his age he's still getting to finals and still a top 10 player?....

People talk about the body breaking down, but there's also the mentalpart of ageing as an athlete that nobody talks about. Many former players have talked about this, from Sampras to Navratilova, and you can see it with the current elders on tour.

Federer choking in important moments in big matches that he's largely played very well in (what were those two hideous drop shots today to break himself?). Serena burning through a GS draw until the gets to the final and has a mental breakdown (not just the US Open disaster but even at Wimbledon she had the yips and came out unfocused). Even though Novak was good, Rafa was playing his best hard court tennis in years at the AO and when it came to the final could barely put a single ball in the court. Venus made numerous major finals in 2017. Was two points away from the win against Stephens at the US Open to make a 3rd before suddenly looking absent on court, and in her Wimbledon final she even had a set point. Before Muguruza took the first set and Venus didn't win another game.

It gets harder and harder to close.

Actually Venus also had her opportunities at Wimbledon 2018 too... losing to Bertens 8-6 in the 3rd set.

Even the non-GS-champion older players struggle with it. At the Australian Open this year Hsieh Su Wei (33 years old) had Osaka on the ropes, thoroughly outplaying her. She was up a set, 4-2, and 40-15. Suddenly double faulting and leaking errors. In her press conference she admitted she choked, and noted the same thing happened the year before against Kerber in the fourth round (where she was 2 points away from a straight sets win).

As champions like Federer age, they realize that their chances at winning big titles become fewer and fewer, and so it's easier for them to choke (as compared with when they were younger).

Yes there was a peek at the Thiem Ass when he fell.....very nice.

OK, I missed the Federer-Thiem match and looked in Youtube for highlights. Who picked this picture as the Youtube picture?

Oops, embedding the video showed the wrong picture. Here is what I see on Youtube.

pics of Thien's asscrack, please,

I agree with most of what R114 wrote, except the fiction that Rafa barely got a ball in the court in this year's AO final. He got thoroughly shellacked by an in-form Djokovic. It was one of those days where a great player is made to look pedestrian by another great player. Rafa has been on the winning end of those days before, like in the 2008 French Open final where he destroyed Federer. That was more about Rafa's play that day than anything else. Same for AO 2019--it was more about Djokovic.

It's definitely true, though, about the mental sharpness depleting with age, though. I'm still surprised that Federer at 38 is getting to these important finals. I'd have thought he'd have mentally checked out by now. Sampras struggled from 1999 on to maintain his form consistently. He'd been Year-End No. 1 six seasons in a row (1993-1998), a remarkable feat that doesn't get enough credit in my opinion, and I say that as someone who never liked Sampras. He grabbed another couple Wimbledon titles and a USO before he retired, but the day in, day out grind had gotten to him and he checked out after that remarkable 2002 US Open run.

Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, and others talked about how hard it was to mentally stay in matches as they aged. Perfectionist Graf couldn't handle anything less than 100%, so she retired when she knew she couldn't do that anymore. Serena should have about 26 or 27 Grand Slams by now, but she keeps mentally faltering in the big moments. I think that's only going to get worse.

Nadal still seems very myopic and stays mentally focused better than others his age, but his body is the big factor now. Djokovic has shown he can go on a mental walkabout for weeks, months, even a couple years, although injuries were a part of that 2-year period, too. I'll be interested to see how Djokovic does in Miami to see if maybe we're entering another mental downturn.

I think Serena will try to best Margaret Court’s record so she can be considered the GOAT without question. Then she’ll call it a career.

The Osaka clan bounced around Florida, moving from coach to coach without saying goodbye. One former coach is suing arguing Osaka's dad cut him out of money once promised.

Miami has started!

If you can't access the Osaka article in R123 because of European GDPR rules, then here's a copy of it (who knows, might get deleted soon though).

Federer vs Top 10 players after winning 2018 Australian Open: 10 matches, 3 wins, 7 losses

W Dimitrov

L Del Potro

L Anderson

L Djokovic

L Djokovic

L Nishikori

W Thiem

W Anderson

L Zverev

L Thiem

Who was Butch Buchholz?

Men's draw out. Skip the rest of my post if you want to see it yourself before my summary:

first I'll say as someone who's not a Nadal fan, it's a shame he's not there. It's always a loss whenever any big names are absent. That said, the draw still has lots of interesting sections like the women's draw. A big part of what happens in early rounds will likely be determined by which qualifiers land where as the qualie field is quite tough this year with a bunch of tough players

Djokovic will open against the winner of Berdych/Tomic which could be tricky if he's as sloppy as he was against Kohlschreiber a few days ago. Roadrunner Millman is the other seed in that section

Bautista Agut and Fognini are on a collision course unless Fabio is in such poor form that he loses to the winner of Kukushkin/Andreozzi first

Marterer vs. Fritz could be a fun first round with the winner to face Raonic. Edmund is the other seed in that section

Defending champ Isner is in a section with Pouille...I'm hoping Tsonga qualifies and lands in there to upset the deplorable

IW winner Thiem will open against either Berrettini or Hurkacz with Fucsovics the other seed

Basilashvili and Monfils are headed towards what would be a fun rd32 battle (if Gael's Achilles has healed)

Coric and Simon head the slumpers' section, with every player in there having a lot of losses this year already

Kyrgios and Nishikori are another section...hopefully Nick will take care of Sandgren if that idiot wins his first round

DL fave section alert-Dimitrov and Khachanov are the seeds with a first round of Lopez vs. Paire

Medvedev and Schwartzman head a section with Struff and Mannarino in there too

Federer and Wawrinka will likely play again! if Stan doesn't lose Herbert or Krajinovic first

Tsitsipas much more favorable section...unless the qualifier he draws is FAA again lol

Cilic and Shapovalov will likely face each other again too. Funny how tennis draws do this so often

A. Zverev and Tiafoe head the last section with first rounders of Ferrer vs. Querrey and Gulbis vs. Kecmanovic

Mens draw is fun! Thanks for the breakdown R128. I also hope Tsonga lands in that section and causes havoc. Can't help but feel a little bad for Wawrinka, I actually think he's been in good form this year but has had zero luck with draws.

The article posted above with the lawsuit against the Osakas is very interesting too. I'm not surprised by any of it but it's weird they all describe the father as a nice, quiet man, when he simultaneously seems to be shuffling the family around and taking advantage of the generosity of coaches and academies left and right.

R58 Yeah. Azarenka just keeps getting fucked by these draws. She'll be dropping down into the 60s or 70s after Miami. So unlucky.

If only she had been pampered like a certain someone after her pregnancy.

The itinerant nature of the Osaka/Francois family is interesting and sad. The article helps explain, maybe, why Osaka doesn't always appear all that enthusiastic about playing - it's because it was her father's dream and he's living vicariously through her - and also why her public speaking is so cringeworthy and she's so awkward. Did she ever go to school? Did she ever hang out with kids her own age (other than her sister)? It seems like no.

The other amazing thing is how it all worked out. He saw the example of Richard Williams and wanted to do the same. It worked except for Mari who couldn't play Venus to Naomi's Serena.

Genie just got bageled in the first round of qualifying to some Japanese girl.

Serena says her career is "only just beginning." She might play into her 50s.

How have we not commented at the luxuriant lushness of RF's chest hair?

unfortunately in every pro sport we see those parents who push their children like this. It's focused on more so in tennis since it's an individual sport. I'd say around half of the slam champs in the last 30 years had pushy parents who groomed them since early childhood

[quote] Genie just got bageled in the first round of qualifying to some Japanese girl.

What does Chrissie’s pencil have to say about that?

R132 Nao Hibino is 3-0 against Bouchard with all their matches being last year so it's not even surprising at this point. That said, Genie is currently up a break 3-2 in the final set...

Federer drags Nadal's constant whining.

"I often play while in pain. I don't want to pretend like its otherwise. Me and Nadal are definitely two players who played the most matches while in pain. I just have a different approach than Nadal. Its useless to talk about the pain. On the contrary: It only helps the opponent."

R133 Her ego could never handle all the loses she'd sustain over that period of time. Not going to happen.

Serena hasn't won a title in over two years.

It's gotten so bad she might need to play the post Wimbledon clay season to finally snatch another one.

R92: Margaret for god's sake, Andrea was a nun, a little respect please

I'm happy for Thiem, unlike other top players, Thiem has a big arsenal of amazing groundstrokes to compete with the big three, with the right mentality he could be a multiple GS winner, unfortunately he is not known for his strong mentality, but that was the case of Wawrinka too, and Stan ended winning 3 GS

She hasn't won a title but I mean.... i'd rather reach the two biggest GS finals than just vulturing Guangzhou International or something. I imagine she has enough titles and doesn't want it unless it's a big one to be honest. Also I don't like her OR Vika but Vika's return wasn't just delayed by motherhood, but also the ongoing court case. Serena had also won a few of those last time she played them (AO and Wimbledon I think) so it made more sense to seed her rather than Vika.

It is amazing reading the Osaka article that it worked after all of that. It's a ruthless business with endless competition trying to get into the upper echelons. When you see how many strings had to be pulled and how many coaches and academies are involved (in almost EVERY player) you wonder if ANY of it is even natural talent, or just luck/drive/ambition/money/connections. The Richard Williams blueprint is a real thing.... and it looks even more 'All About Eve' now that Naomi has gone from Serena's old coach/hitting partner to Venus' sloppy seconds. Even the way she claps her opponents' good shots looks a little Serena-esque at times.

I guess every parent is a 'tennis parent' because (with extremely rare exceptions) if they're not in those Florida academies by about 7 they are simply not going to make it.

omfg Genie is now 0-4 against Nao Hibino!! Genie was up 2-0 with a chance for double break 3-0 in the final set. Hibino got things even to 4-4 and finally won the match 4-6 6-0 6-4

I still hope we get Andreescu vs. Bouchard at some point this year

Here's so chest hair for you.

Hibano plays flat and very low groundstrokes. She also picks ball very early. Her style of play doesn't suit genie

other interesting qualie results so far today:

M. Ymer just destroyed R. Harrison 6-1 6-3 lmao

FAA advances in 3 sets over Vanni

Albot, McDonald, Opelka and Rubin all win in straight sets

Rublev whips Donaldson

Vickery def. Brady in 3

Barthel wins third set tiebreak

Townsend wins i 3

Kanepi wins easily

R145 that is true but Nao is quite short so her serve is weak. Bouchard is an aggressive returner so one would think she'd be able to start most points with the advantage

GO YMER! Hero of the day.

Genie took a long break after she ate a bagel in the 2nd set. It messed Nao's momentum up and she went down immediately 2-0 (almost 3-0). Luckily she gave Ms Sports Illustrated what she deserved in the end.

Good for Barthel to win again after making the second week in Indian Wells, also I hope FAA isn't exhausted after needing 3 sets.

Which seed is Kaia Kanepi going to pummel in Miami? I'm sure Halep is glueing her wig as we speak.

The women's IW final was pretty high level tennis. It wasn't boring at all. Why do people dislike Kerber? She seems alright to me.

R149 I don't dislike Kerber but can see how some people might think she comes across as "cold".

She doesn't play with much flair and is mainly defensive. That said, I thought the IW final was brilliant. I've liked Kerber for a while and hadn't seen Andreescu before this tournament but what a final!

Really hope Andreescu can follow up the hype she's got with this win. She seems like a really nice young woman as well as being tremendously talented and composed.

I like Kerber a lot especially that she came out of nowhere. She was a terrible junior player. Her peak level is higher than Halep or Wozniack or any of the other elite counter punchers of this era. The problem has been that she peaks rarely (much of 2016 was an exception) and sometimes reverts to just pushing. She also clearly has a motivation problem. Sometimes she just doesn't give a shit and plays like it. She cared this week.

Felix had trouble today, but he is 18, he will recover easily, and he even won the third 6 1 (even he has trouble with his serve at first).

Kerber is fantastic when she is on, but like many others on the wta she is rarely at her best, and that's the problem wta has right now, they are unable to build stars because their players don't know what regularity means

[quote]pics of Thien's asscrack, please,

here's a short clip, but you don't see much

Met Kerber at the draw party for Cincy last year and she's stunning in person and very sweet. No ego.

I would pay good money to have the draw fixed in Bouchard's next tournament so that she has to face Hibino again in the first round.

I don't get frustrated with Kerber's inconsistency as much as several other women with similar results. I don't think that at the outset of 2016, anyone was thinking that if she could just get herself together mentally, she would be a multiple Grand Slam winner. I think she's overachieved and find it amazing that she defeated Serena for two of her GS titles. Even now, I see her as a solid #10-#25 player but obviously she has exceeded that. Go figure.

we'll get a chance to see what Mari Osaka's game is like. Her match against Whitney Osuigwe is last on Grandstand tomorrow (no matches on the main court)

R154 Glad to hear that! Did you meet anyone else?

Be still my heart, R103 !

I don't 'hate' Kerber but her game is incredibly boring to me (unless she fully turns on the aggression, which is rare). Squatting like she's on the toilet for every shot, and hitting it to the other side of the court repeatedly like a windscreen wiper?... it's hideous to watch her hit that forehand DTL at 10mph and grunt (long and drawn out) like she just hit a Del Potro forehand. In that final she only hit 16 winners in 29 games played. That is basically less than one winner every two games. She's a good athlete but I can't think of her as a 'good tennis player'.

She's also the recipient of a lot of luck. Her AO title came after Misaki Doi flopped with match points against her in the first round. As was mentioned above, Hsieh was two points away from defeating her last year. In Dubai this year, Jakupovic was 5-0 up and just stopped playing... same exact thing with Strycova in Doha. Even at this Indian Wells the other day, Sabalenka was up a double break and 40-15 in the final set, wiping the floor with her, before she had a mental breakdown.

Also the terrible sportsmanship through the years - bad handshakes, the RG incident with Hantuchova, and ego-retiring when she's about to be double bageled (like against Sharapova 6-0 3-0 in Beijing when there was nothing wrong with her physically).

Like the other pushers including Wozniacki and Halep, she's merely been a 'gap filler' at the top of the game who was lucky to be there during the period where Serena and Azarenka were becoming mothers, and Sharapova got busted for her drug use. She still hasn't won a PM title (a fellow 3 time grand slam winners like Davenport has SIXTEEN).

Furthermore, she's just kind of boring. Always says the exact (and I mean EXACT) same thing in every post match interview.

[quote]Serena will try to best Margaret Court’s record so she can be considered the GOAT without question.

But she wouldn’t be even if she does. If she beats MC’s record of most GSs, then she’ll have a great, superlative, magnificent record (and I’d be sooo pleased that that old cunt no longer held the record of most GSs). But GOATitude is not established by GS count alone. She’d be way up there in the conversation, but to say she’s the GOAT is impossible. Where would you put Lenglen? Where would you put Navratilova? Where would you put Graf? By the logic of “most GSs = GOAT” MC would currently be considered GOAT, but she most certainly isn’t.

r160 Sports is way too much about marketing, she could have been much more successful, if she would be easier to market and more marketed; there are the rumors she is lesbian, she isn't openly so of course, I guess she likes not having so much attention on her, doesn't beard or closet herself much. Many athletes were mainly successful because they were well-marketed and didn't shy away from a lot of marketing. Germany are also never really popular and don't play the star game in general well, they never get enough appraisal. Many big stars are also highly doped and have a lot of protection, many of the other athletes have much less protection.

R160 wait what happened with Kerber and Hantuchova at RG? I either forgot or didn't pay attention to that match

[R163], in 2014 at RG Kerber hit a return of serve deep, and as Hantuchova made her shot (which went in) Kerber's shot was called out. The call was overruled by the chair umpire, who then awarded the point to Kerber. Hantuchova argued that her shot was in so the point should be replayed, which is correct. Hantuchova argued with both the chair umpire and referee who wouldn't budge. One can only assume the umpire forgot, or didn't realise, that Hantuchova's shot had gone in and thus if the incorrect call hadn't come the ball would still be in play. While Hantuchova argued with umpire, and then took up service position to serve to the ad court, Kerber continued to stand waiting in the deuce court indicating that she'd won the point, and refused to acknowledge that Hantuchova's shot had been in when play was stopped.

The umpire was Louise Engzell. One of the most hopeless. She somehow was given the job of this year's AO final between Kvitova and Osaka, and missed several net cords that should have been called - the beep machine was off because the juniors final had just been played on that court I think. Kvitova often left the serve, waiting for the call to come, but they were deemed aces.

Anyway here's the clip featuring their argument. Hantuchova kept a surprisingly cool head. Kerber turns her back to their argument and pretends to be frustrated that Dani is taking a long time discussing it, when in reality she knows she's trying to scam the point.

Suzanne Lenglen only ever lost like 3 tennis matches in her entire career, but back then tennis was mostly a sport played in the backyard garden by rich people in only about 3 countries, and not many women actually bothered trying to play tennis.

Margaret Court won most of those Australian Opens in draws that had 48 players (including a BYE for her). In many of these there were as few as 2 or 3 international players (not even big stars), most were local Australian club girls. In one final she even got a walk over. The AO was still on dry grass and in one year was even held twice. It's definitely "the 4th slam" for a reason Other unique things about it like the green Rebound Ace courts have been changed to match the US Open in recent years. And in fact the Sydney International tournament (which may be cancelled next year due to the new ATP Cup) has a significantly longer and more competitive history than the Australian Open.

I can't stand Serena but she has a much better claim to it than either of those 2 (possibly than even Graf who has the Seles asterisk). And either way, i'm sure someone will come along one day and be deemed more impressive then her as well. It's a cycle.

Thanks for that clip, r165. I have no idea how Hantuchova was able to regroup after that outrageously bad call.

Slight tangent but Hantuchova has been very good on Amazon Prime coverage. Much better than Rusedski and his starting every sentence with "Exactly that".

Margaret Court and her loss to Riggs...she was a basket case.

In 1973, though, I wonder how many top players could actually defeat Riggs either on the back courts with few people watching (I think fewer than ten) let alone in front of the world. King, obviously, but that match was not good quality. By that I mean, King was starting to have some leg cramps, and she played nervously at times, though I do realize she was trying to junk the ball herself. Aside from King? I think Evert. Maybe Goolagong. I doubt Casals, Reid, Richey, Stove, Durr and the others could have done so. I sometimes wonder at what point would the tour have had most if not all of their players beat Riggs were he to remain 55 and still have that same skill set?

I'm simply wondering. I love King and a lot of women's tennis, but Riggs had a way of getting into all players' heads, and that causes players to weird out.

Looks like today might get rained out in Miami, matches already postponed several hours.

[quote] draws that had 48 players

Lesbians! (Except me of course)

R170 yep. The precipitation will be over 60% the whole day

Rain is in the Miami forecast until tomorrow morning. Do they just complete qualies tomorrow and schedule 1st round MD matches with the qualifiers on Thursday for this scenario?

You can see Andrea Temesvari 's honey trap at work right here! How many times did Helena Sukova and so many other girls lost their match because they were more focused on Temesvari's lady parts than their tennis?

during this rain delay, A. Zverev just adopted a new dog from Humane Society Miami

What will be the dog’s first name? We will thereafter refer to it as [First Initial]. Zverev.

R175: I predict a cheesy video with the dog and the girlfriend in a near future

I HATE the new stadium. You certainly won't see much sunshine for a tournament in Florida. How stupid.

The Sunshine Single. Sad.

on their twitter they just announced play has been canceled for the day. They haven't updated OOP for tomorrow yet. I think they'll add more first round matches to today's.

What will I do tonight then? Watch reruns of last year’s Miami Open?

Zverev adopted a dog.

Some posts a GIF of Tootsie in the comments. LOL. He does look like Dorothy Michaels with those glasses and mop of hair.

It's a cute pic, and the puppy is way less interested in cameras than his girlfriend

No tennis today because of the rain.

Tennis fans on twitter are the worst with rain washouts. When such a thing happens, so many scream about their lives being ruined.

Wow, people really don't know how to overreact correctly. A good tennis fan only overreact when Gramps lose, period.

And what they do at Wimbledon? attempts of suicide?

I find a comment on youtube that i found extremely funny, the guy said he thinks Zverev is not talented and he will never win more than 6 GS.

The world is full of idiots or maybe the big three spoiled a whole generation of tennis fans

When Washington had terrible luck with rain last summer people went ballistic even though they weren't even attending the tournament but watching at home on their illegal streams.

Miami really should have a roof though. It's not like rain or humidity is rare for them.

My life is ruined!!!

YOUR FAILURE TO BUILD A ROOF THAT WOULD COST $150 MILLION DOLLARS FOR A WEEK LONG TENNIS TOURNAMENT HAS RUINED MY LIFE!!!!!

It's a 2 week tourney and it should be on clay - they could play throughout some rain delays if that were the case.

It is a bummer when it rains...life isn't ruined but you take off work, take a cab or lyft to the destination...and then rain.

I JUST HOPE THOSE STANDS ARE STURDY AND PROFESSIONALLY CONSTRUCTED AND BUILT! i don't know a look at them, they look makeshift and ready for collapse at any moment! i hope i'm wrong! just wondering so are the good seats if not already taken by corporate sponsor big shots and their employees who KNOW NOTHING about tennis and only there for the free seats and something to do and "be seen".. outrageously expensive?

They are playing again. Hopefully today without rain delays

I'm not sure my mental state can cope with this uncertainty.

R195: Be strong, i'm sure you can deal with it

And...FAA gets through the qualies to his rightful place in the Miami MD.

So far in addition to FAA:

Opelka qualifies

Sonego upsets McDonald to qualify

M. Ymer def. Rubin to qualify

Vickery qualifies

Kanepi def. Babos to qualify

Niculescu qualifies

Townsend qualifies

[quote] Townsend qualifies

Has she had her weigh in yet?

Cuevas really has a hot body. Hot face, Hot chest, hot abs, hot thighs, hot ass and most probably a sexy tool too

Cuevas def. Tsonga 6-4 6-4 to qualify

thoughts on this new ad, DL?

There's definitely no love lost between Azarenka and Cibulkova.

Baena or Kudla?

Can Azarenka just retire already?

Azarenka pulls out the win. Takes on Garcia next who has been terrible for awhile

R204 Roberto is winning quite easily till now.

I found surprising the shade Federer throw to Nadal when he said that he is in pain a lot of times but he never complains

Azankenka's luck on the draws is terrible but the reason she is not higher on the rankings is because she is unable to play a complete decent match. For some moments she is amazing, others she sucks.

That was fun to see Azarenka vs. Cibulkova, a rivalry that has been happening since 2006. We've seen so many players come and go over the last 15 years so sometimes I like seeing old rivals still facing off. These 2 usually give each other a tough match

Berdych has withdrawn so Tomic will face either a qualifier or lucky loser tomorrow. The qualifying hasn't finished yet so no one has been placed.

Carballés had a very good day, i didn't expect such easy win on hard courts

How did Petkovic ever make the top ten and reach the SF of Roland Garros?

The Miami qualifying is at the same level as the Rio 500 main draw.

[quote] These 2 usually give each other a tough match

Like the Williams sisters.

r211 Because she was good, very fit, intelligent, has heart, is communicative, fast, hard strokes, was the heart of he German team, etc. . Germans are never very pushed by TPTB and don't do the star thing well; albeit she is more Yugoslavian, but Eastern Europeans also have it kinda hard with the Western Companies that run big sports.

I like Petko.. she is great on Instagram. Really funny when not speaking German!

Petko has all the charisma that most top players are lacking

I didn't realize we had so many Petkovic fans here.

Caption this photo.

Petkovic is a lovely girl. Very charming interviewee and always gives a good handshake or hug at the net. She was never going to be a world beater but in her prime top 10 days, her movement was really good and her strokes were more consistent than they are nowadays. I think she's one of those cases where she had to be in PEAK physical condition to play her best tennis, and it kind of ran her body into the ground.

I think of her apex in the same way I think of Konta, another former top 10 player. Just Petko had a slightly less powerful serve than Jo, but more fluid (and less robotic) groundstrokes.

Yes, Petko does have some good moves.

Kokkinakis dyed his hair 👀

He and Benoit must consult the same hair stylist.

It was not a good idea

Ah.....I see we have another husky ballboy in Miami. Inclusion is good.

Are the positions of lines persons and ball persons paid or are they volunteers?

Noah Rubin... slurp

Is Rubin supposed to be a promising player? He is 23 and never was top 100 (or is he a former college player?)

Rubin seems to be putting all his effort into his photography project.

I thought Kuhn was going to celebrate his 19 with a victory but after losing a ton of match points i think he'll lose. When you miss so many opportunities you deserve to lose. He is too green yet, fortunately for him he has no points to defend after this (but recover this 25 points, if he ends losing, won't be that easy)

Yikes, R220. Kokkinakis is only 22 but looks middle-aged in that photo.

[quote] Ah.....I see we have another husky ballboy in Miami. Inclusion is good.

I recall seeing either here or on Tennis Channel that the Miami Open prides itself on having the best ball people (persons?) after Wimbledon. Is this an instance of quantity over quality?

I noticed quite a few overweight ball kids as well

Rubin has been stuck between 125-180 for the last four years or so. You'd think he'd try and make a push into the top 100 but he plays a limited schedule. McDonald and Opelka cracked the top 100 by playing every chance they got.

Rubin's had a series of injuries, and he still seems to get them to the point where he's out of the game for weeks and weeks sometimes. He builds up some steam and then falters. He's so easy on the eyes, but frustrating to watch when you're rooting for him. I also think he loses a lot of energy battling in the qualifier draws and the minor leagues. Competition is fierce, and he doesn't catch too many breaks. Also, he's not the tallest player, and that hampers him too, I think.

Chanda Rubin?

More Wang at this tournament than a gloryhole.

Xiyu

Xinyu

Yafan

Qiang

Noah Rubin. He just makes too many errors for someone whose game is mostly defensive.

RIP Kuhn. I think he just died on court.

C. Rubin

N. Rubin

Wow and it's his birthday. Sad for Kuhn.

[quote]Shirts off for Wawrinka and Trevor Noah.

Is that Trevor's BF? I thought he was dating a female model who is also real estate broker? She brokered the deal on his 10 million dollar NYC apartment.

Sad to see Lloyd Harris out to Monteiro today.

Poor Kuhn! That was tough to watch.

Qualifiers placed

Interesting first round match between qualies FAA and Ruud #NextGen battle

Kanepi lands in Osaka's section but she'd have to beat first Riske then Hsieh to play the world #1

Niculescu junkball queen could play Muguruza in round 2...that should be interesting if it comes to pass

Puig cannot handle Wang.

Mackenzie McDonald and Dan Evans will enter the MD by winning the Lucky Loser draw against Harris

[quote] Puig cannot handle Wang.

Tehe.

[quote]Puig cannot handle Wang

None of them can

Puig is bad and just sad. I guess Kamau Murray hasn't been able to help her much.

Puig never plays well in Miami. I thought maybe a change of venue and court would help her but nope. She gets a lot of support there too

that is ONE ugly stadium they built! UTTERLY TOTALLY LOOKS "MAKESHIFT"...different shades of blue, blue and more blue everywhere, except for those hideous brown back chairs (with blue) near the court.... those silver metal steel bars around the court even the corporate sponsor expensive seats near the court behind each baseline as well around the stadium court? the way too tall and huge signs on the 4 corners of the court that hide some of the seats that no one can see the court in it's entirety?....

just saying...

Puig did well last year, beating Woz in a controversial match. Her ranking will drop now.

R249 That's because it is MAKESHIFT. They built inside an already standing, massive stadium. It's supposed to be temporary.

Puig!

Do you prefer the chances of Qualifier or Lucky Loser? Is Lucky Loser journeyman?

A. Murray

J. Murray

K. Murray

#251.. yes, i know it's makeshift but geez, james blake and others you don't have to make it OBVIOUS! LOL!.... so instead of improving the facilities at the key, they are now going with this monstrosity for how long? are plans to built a huge facility in the works?...

RAIN !!!!

pasty Shapo (with D. Thiem)

Nice pic, R357, more for the view of Thiem’s ass than a shirtless Shopbottom.

tennis canceled for the rest of the night

[quote] tennis canceled for the rest of the night

Nooooooooooooo! This can’t be.

lol Courier just kweened out in a mini rant against fans complaining about who got WCs in Miami and who didn't. He ended by saying "it's a business, people!"

I understand no one "deserves" a WC but sometimes they're silly. Like in recent years at Wimbledon and RG certain home players who absolutely suck keep getting WCs for multiple years...it's no wonder people complain

*on Tennis Channel Live

Courier confirms his inanity and candidacy for replacement. Nobody wants to hear about the corruption of the tennis business if it's just to reinforce what we already hate about it.

ugh they showed Kuhn actually collapsed on court today in full body cramps.

Don't they have a stretcher in Miami? Or at least a wheelchair? What the hell James Blake is doing?

Possibly, R265...is Kuhn represented by IMG?

Chung dyes his hair too

Also, A. Zverev has some court drama of his own

So sorry about putting Ben's mug up here for you, I forgot it takes the picture from the profile if there's no pic in tweet :0

It really is a horrible face to look at.

I usually try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but R268 really should be banned.

Why, R271?

R272 No-one should have to see that.

Rumour has it that Sacha Bajin is teaming up with Kristina '25 languages' Mladenovic. This seems so funny (almost petty) after her beating Osaka, lol.

Maybe while she's learning Urdu he can teach her how to not hit a double fault every time she was a BP or MP against her!

How can she even afford him? Is Domi footing the bill with his Indian Wells prize money?

No R274, Domi will have to give his ass to Sasha Birjin at least once a week. Then Sasha would offer 70 % discount on his fee to KiKi

R274 Mladenovic isn't poor. She's earned just under $10m in prize money alone, which of course isn't including any money she's earned in appearance fees, endorsements and as the lead interpreter for the UN.

I don't understand, R273. Rothenberg is quite attractive!

R277, I don’t think Rothenberg and Raonic look alike, but I agree that neither of them are attractive.

Mladenovic made a decent amount of money in doubles. She won slams. Not sure how made she made in her 1 good singles year

R147 Just look at how much Serena struggled with Jie Zheng

Jakupovic is the dumbest and mentally weakest player I've ever seen. Painful to watch.

The R1 match between Sorribes Tormo and Krunic only has one line judge overseeing the sidelines on each side of the court... is that normal for a first-round match at a Premier Mandatory event?

It was because there were so many matches going on at the same time, I'd assume, due to the rain delay. All courts since have had 2 judges on each baseline.

R165 To be fair, Osaka's serves often sound like net cords when they're not. It's just the sound of her strings reverberating within the stadium.

Venus' serve and movement are noticeably compromised but her groundstrokes were good enough to get the win today over Jakupovic

Riske surprisingly def. Kanepi easily

Thompson def. Norrie in 3

Osuigwe def. M. Osaka 6-2 6-4

Finally got to see Mari's game. She hits hard like Naomi but is much less consistent and doesn't move that well. She also could get fitter.

So she is like Naomi was 2 or 3 yrs ago?

It's still a complete sham that the two IMG wildcards ranked outside the top 200 (and 300) who wouldn't have beaten anyone else drew EACH OTHER. I only saw a bit of their match but I wasn't impressed by either Osuigwe or Mari.

Jakupovic was so bad today against Granny Vee. The old girl quite literally could not move. If it didn't come into her hitting zone she didn't bother moving towards it. She was also serving like Errani and obviously compromised in her groundstrokes (she has never hit so many moonballs in her life). Still, hats off that she was able to pull out the win (and in straights, with positive W/UE ratio). The will and tactics are still there even though the body is not.

I think Naomi was better than her even 2-3 years ago.

Now Whitney is an impressive teenage talent. She has firepower of her own but the points would have been tougher if Mari were more consistent and moved better

It shows how impressive the William sisters are that they rose to the top together. The Pliskovas and Osakas only have one sister with true top talent.

Naomi in Vogue

Townsend easily def. Larsson

[quote] It's still a complete sham that the two IMG wildcards ranked outside the top 200 (and 300) who wouldn't have beaten anyone else drew EACH OTHER

It’s a business!

Sandgren genuinely looks 100 years old. Bublik is doing his best to try and gift him this match. :( Come on kid.

R288: Whiitney is one of the most promising american juniors. Nothing suspicious about her wc, on IMG or not

I'm sad about what happened to Nicola, but once he recovers (and i hope he recovers fast and well) he should learn a valuable lesson, you can't waste so many match points or you will face the consecuences and the consecuences are never good. He dominated clearly the match, and he tanked after 8 match points (M Zverev is not in good form, but he is very experienced and you can give him that advantages). On a positive note, he was able to put a fight at the beginning of the third before the collapse.

Unfortunately for him, that loss make very difficult for him to get into RG and Wimbledon, but he will receive wc on Barcelona and Madrid, and he should do well on clay, he has no points to defend so sooner or later his ranking will rise, maybe soon enough to qualify to the US Open.

bye Sandgren! Bublik wins in 3rd set tiebreak.

Too bad Sandgren won Auckland before he started flopping again. That's the only thing saving his ranking right now

R295 she may be a good junior, but whether or not she deserved a wildcard for that alone isn't the issue here... it's the two weakest players in the MD, BOTH wildcards, drawing each other in the first round and further lining the pockets of IMG. We've already seen some draw fixing this year for Sharapova in St Petersburg and this is another egregious example. It brings to mind the Felicity Huffman/Lori Loughlin college admissions scandal. Neither of these two players can enter many of the bigger ITF events. They are literally rigging the system for prize money and ranking points.

So glad to see Sandgren out. It's extra sweet after he had his own match point and was awarded the match. While walking to the net to celebrate, Bublik challenged the call (correctly), managed to hold and take it to a tiebreak, and eventually come out with a win.

In the other WC match (and rematch of 2018 RG junior final) 15 year old Cori Gauff def. 17 year old Catherine McNally in 3 sets

By his tweet Kuhn seems to be ok, cramps are very painful but generally don't cause any more problem.

I'm curious about the FAA-Ruud match. To be honest i was not impressed with Ruud the first time i saw him, he seems solid but nothing special, of course tennis is way more than powerful groundstrokes and sometimes it's needed more than a match to see the whole potential of a player

[quote] So glad to see Sandgren out. It's extra sweet after he had his own match point and was awarded the match. While walking to the net to celebrate, Bublik challenged the call (correctly), managed to hold and take it to a tiebreak, and eventually come out with a win.

Love it.

Félix in the house!

Lajovic def. Cuevas in 3

[quote]Rumour has it that Sacha Bajin is teaming up with Kristina '25 languages' Mladenovic

Kiki M. just started her match against one of the Wang's and Sascha B. is in her box

Dzumhur def. Eubanks in a third set tiebreak

將贏得溫布爾登網球公開賽

R305: I doubt it

[quote]It shows how impressive the William sisters are that they rose to the top together. The Pliskovas and Osakas only have one sister with true top talent.

Only two sisters? Big deal.

R205 Yes, let's have one of the few actually talented and strategically competent players on tour retire so it can become even more of a clusterfuck. Brilliant!

She just needs a decent draw so she can get a few wins and some confidence.

R303 Well it's not like Thiem spends any time down there.

Why would Sascha work for an over the hill player who has been mediocre most of her career?

Domichou est un vrai gentleman : chaque fois qu'on doit se revoir, il me laisse le doigt dans la chatte!

Kiki couldn't get a handle on Wang.

R310: Maybe because she has the potential of being something more than that. Not that the odds are in her favour

[quote] Kiki couldn't get a handle on Wang

As expected.

Begu led 5-1 in the second set and had a match point at 5-2, loses the match in 3 to Andreescu.

Andreescu is the new mental toughness queen. I hope she gets a chance to play Sharapova before she retires.

FAA def. Ruud in 3

Marterer def. Fritz in 3

Kvitova def. Sakkari in 2

37 year old Lopez def. forehand failure Paire in 3 sets.

Andreescu seems like the real deal.......so far.

So far the IMG MD WC picks are 0/3 with Tseng and Eubanks out in good fights after Kuhn's cramps capsized him.

OMG this Keys-Stosur match is horrendous.

Azarenka keeps gift wrapping this for Garcia. At least it's a change from so many of her other recent losses where she's had the lead the entire match only to blow it. She hasn't gotten ahead once in this one.

Stosur wins six games in a row. Keys wins six games in a row. Neither can keep the ball in the court but neither knows how to just hit cross court and push.

Garcia straight sets Azarenka

Please, god, no rain tonight!

R323 That was more Azarenka straight sets Azarenka. So many finishing shots and powder puff 2nd serve returns missed. She needs to get it together.

“Hard Rock Stadium”. As if any of those young...women would know the sensation of anything thing rock hard against them! A tradition more befitting tennis is naming stadiums after retired champions.

omg Keys a mess. Who the fuck is still losing to Stosur these days?

Keys apparently. Querrey will definitely lose to Grandpa Ferrer now too.

Keys looked miserable out there. She truly has no belief in her game anymore. When she failed to convert on the break points at 4-4 in the first and later to go up 5-3 in the final set, you knew she was done for in those sets. Plus she has no ability to play any rally past 3 shots because her fitness is the worst of anyone in the top 35. So much talent wasted.

I'm anxious to see if Carlo will be as pathetic as Jakupovic was today. How hard will she tank for Granny V?

[quote] How hard will she tank for Granny V?

She?

R330 I considered 'they' or 'he' or 'it'

And Keys shits the bed yet again. Bet Linsday is glad she's not coaching Madison -- must have been a frustrating experience.

R332 Yes. I think Lindsay likes Madison a lot personally. But she implied Madison is lazy when it comes to practice

lmao Ferrer scored his easiest win over Querrey yet in their meetings

McDonald def. Humbert is a fucked up nutty finish. Humbert served for it at 5-4 but choked. McDonald led 5-1 in tiebreak and finally won it 7-4. Humbert double faulted on final mp

R333: It's pretty obvious she is lazy, she plays exactly the same for years. That and the fact that she chokes like no other on big matches makes very difficult to capitalize the obvious potential she has

Can Ones from Tunisia defeat Slonae today?

In another rematch from IW, Tomljanovic upsets Sabalenka in straight sets

Chardy upsets Simon in straight sets

Raonic gets a walkover from Marterer

Sabalenka won't level up if she doesn't try something besides constantly hitting the crap out of the ball.

Rematch of Hsieh vs Osaka coming up? Thatd be a fun rematch.

Well, it's appropriate that all the lesbians get to play on a court named after BUTCH Something-or-other!

The M. Court troll is now as tiresome as the Chrissie's pencil troll. You both need to learn when to let something go.

R336 Ons did beat Sloane comfortably in Moscow. She's one of those variety players that are VERY annoying to play when you aren't 200% focused. So we'll see if this is one of the 4 tournaments per year where that is the case for Slow-Anne.

Speaking of those players, Hsieh is through after dispatching Riske in straights. She awaits the winner of Wickmayer vs Osaka (who she was a set, 4-2 and 40-15 up against in Australia before choking). A rematch would be interesting.

After giving Wickmayer a bagel in set 1 (in 23 minutes), Osaka is struggling a lot in set 2, which has already gone for about 50 minutes. Very bad temper, and Wickmayer has managed to earn break points on almost every one of her service games. Currently 4-4 after Naomi saves more break points.

Sabalenka lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in straights, and Kontaveit beats Anisimova in a tough 3 setter.

what r341 said

Osaka lost the 2nd set in the tiebreak. At one point she even threw her racquet and screamed, the crowd were 'ooh'-ing, if not outright boo-ing.

Haven't seen Wickmayer play in ages but her game still looks pretty solid. I remember her making that US Open semi final 10 years ago.

Kei is again struggling in early rounds. Expect another injury withdrawal at the later stage of this tournament.

Wickmayer can hit the ball and is in good shape but her movement is OK (not amazing) and she wasn't that consistent. She briefly cracked the top 10 before sliding backwards and stayed there.

Basilashvili blasts M. Zverev off the court

In yet another IW rematch, Vondroussova again upsets Ostapenko

this has to be a record for the number of rematches from IW to Miami. There are always a few but this is ridiculous.

Lajovic upsets Nishikori in 3 sets. Well at least we won't have to worry about him reaching the QF or SF and then withdrawing with injury

[quote] this has to be a record for the number of rematches from IW to Miami. There are always a few but this is ridiculous.

Would one refer to those rematches as Sunshine Doubles?

Osaka wins a quick third set

R347: Not exactly a surprise, M Zverev is only is second round because Kuhn choked and then had cramps.

Coric lost 6 0 against Carballés in the second set. Borna and Khachanov have a lot of potential but they are very far from being consistent players right now

Kecmanovic is going to take some profit of IW-Miami, after a good while bubbling under the top 100 it seems he is on the rise

Monfils withdraws from the tournament with a sore left ankle to be replaced by a LL

R353 I think Lloyd Harris will take Monfils' place

Miami update: OUT: Monfils IN: Harris (LL, gets a first round Bye, will play against Haase)c

Coric def. Carballes Baena in a weird lopsided 3 set affair

Andreescu straight sets Kenin. If Kerber wins her match today, we'll get a 3rd round IW final rematch

Monica is giving a lot of trouble to Garbine,

Monica Niculescu won something like 15 points in a row against Garbine at the back end of that set and start of the 2nd.

One legged Grandma Methuselah Venus wins the first set over Carl Suarez Navarro in a tiebreak (and I mean one-legged lol). Up an early break in set 2.

Millman shit his pants on the verge of the victory. He is no different than that loser Jordan Thompson

[quote] Carl Suarez Navarro in a tiebreak (and I mean one-legged lol).

In Spanish that’s “Carlo”.

wow Venus wins 6-1 in the second over CSN. I think this is as far as she goes though. Kasatkina will run everything down and Venus won't be able to win without her full serve and movement

Kontaveit def. Anisimova in 3 tough sets

Kuzmova upsets Pavlyuchenkova in 3 tough sets

R362: That would happen if Kasatkina was playing at her usual level, but Kasatkina is on a slump

I really like Anisimova, great game and no grunting. Sooner or later she'll become a top player. The sooner the better

[quote] Kuzmova upsets Pavlyuchenkova

Alphabet Soup

Fucsovics has a 'Tom of Finland' look about him

Niculescu slices Muguruza up 6-1 in the third

Tennis robot Sofia Kenin as a kid talking about Andy Roddick.

She looks like the Russian version of the Olsen twins

I don't get it though. Her name is Sofia but everyone calls her "Sonia"

Sonia is the Russian nickname for Sofia.

R341 and R343 The M. Court troll might be the best thing about these threads. Always makes me laugh. Lighten up.

Red Sonia

[quote] Tennis robot Sofia Kenin as a kid talking about Andy Roddick.

Did she discuss Roddick’s ass?

Jakupovic and Carlo have managed to take the WTA to a new low this week. How was either (esp. Carlo) not able to take down a hobbled Granny V?! Just pitiful.

Rena down 4-1 in 2nd. Let's see how Peterson gives it back.

Kyrgios wins in 2

FAA def. Fucsovics 6-4 4-6 6-0

Serena is abysmal today. 33% of first serve points won in that 2nd set. She got breadsticked by Rebecca Peterson (who has no weapons to speak of, not even her movement) and faced break points in the first game of the 3rd set. She's really having to force herself to play, lots of "Come on"s.

Honestly Venus on her peg leg and with a hindered elbow was playing a lot better.

I sense a choke coming though from the youngster.

Thiem next for FA-A? Nice win over Tom of Finland...

Serena wins 6-3 1-6 6-1

defending champ Isner wins in 2 tiebreaks

Kerber wins 3, setting up a rematch against Andreescu

[quote]Can Ons from Tunesia defeat Sloane today?

Sloane was too solid for Ons today (6-2 6-3)

So she’s not ons singular sensation?

Shocked that Sloane won.

Pouille losing to Ramos Vinolas on a hard court. Yikes. That's a long way from the Aussie Semi-finals.

Poohey

We're back to one baseline line judge in many matches now. The challenge system is available on only a few courts. IMG is so fucking cheap!

^^^ They say it's due to the rain delay causing them to expand the number of courts they are playing on while unable to increase the number of lines people available.

Nooooooooooooo! Not rain again!

wow, i've never seen OP's pic. Is that a real marriage? they have twins right? turkey baster perhaps.

IMG: The Miami Open is not only better than Indian Wells, it is the NEW US Open.

Wow. Putin's daughter roasts Bencic.

Belinda was such a brat (as always), i'm glad she's out. And yes i'm aware that it came at the hands of another mega brat.

Hurkacz 6-4 6-4 over Thiem. Not a shock. He's the type of player who is always up and down. He was down all year until IW now down again. He'll be ready for Monte Carlo with Nadal

Hurkacz is really good too.

[quote] And yes i'm aware that it came at the hands of another mega brat.

[quote] Wow. Putin's daughter roasts Bencic.

Explain please.

Thiem does better on slower hard courts and clay courts right? Isnt Miami fairly fast?

No. Miami is still super slow and he's gotten better on slow hard court, as shown by last week. The US Open is his second best slam. (Washington is the only really fast hard court in the US left). Thiem is just an up and down player as R393 said and Hurkacz (who beat Nishikori and Shapovalov last week) is a very good player.

R284 No bitch - that’s the sound of Naomi’s feet slamming to the ground on her serve that makes that noise. It’s extremely irritating and difficult to watch, when you think so many first serves are lets. Even Kvitova was complaining to the umpire about it during the AO final.

Sorry if someone already noted this ...

Y. Wang upsets Svitolina in straight sets

Wang was too much for Svitolina.

Which Wang?

[quote] Which Wang?

Y. Wang

R402 Y NOT Wang? That's what I'd be asking most of the WTA.

Hot stuff. Wait till the end.

Thiem flopped hard .Sad

Hurkacz is very good (and very sexy).

Evans is giving a good fight to Shop. Can he cause upset?

Garcia bagled Julia in the first set. Won the first seven games. She is on a roll after defeating Vika

R406 sexy? huh?

Garcia def. Goerges in straights

Cecchinato gets walkover from Dzumhur

Sousa upsets Johnson in straights

L. Mayer upsets Pella in straights

R409 Hurkacz is lovely.

Stan is so sexy. I just want to cuddle up with him and rub his ass.

[quote]Stan is so sexy. I just want to cuddle up with him and rub his ass

He's a big ol' cry baby.

Shapovalov def. Evans in 3

Thompson easily upsets Khachanov 6-2 6-3

Khachanov is the kind of player that can't not stand his own hype. If he plays a good tournament he needs to flop hard in the following two.

I remember Gaudio saying that he had a very hard time after winning RG because he thought he was totally underserving.

Medvedev whips Mannarino

Is it wrong of me to want Hsieh to take out Osaka?

Kvitova wins a tough 3 set duel over Vekic, a rematch of their St. Petersburg meeting this year

Krajinovic upsets Wawrinka in a 3rd set tiebreak. Stan was up 5-2 before losing the last 5 points

Goffin sweeps Andujar

R418 No, not at all.

Former DL faves Feli and Dimitrov up next.

Barty destroys Stosur 6-0 6-3

Does Munar tuck like a drag queen? He is strangely flat in front.

Surprised these two aren't playing doubles. Shapo and Bopanna are much less cute together.

From 1-4 down Osaka wins 5 Games in a row to clinch the 1st Set 6-4. Really started to pick up her pace and movement after the OCC with her new coach (formerly of Team Venus Williams).

Serena has just pulled out. Knee injury.

SERENA OUT!

Slam #24 is not going to happen.

Gaygor tops F. Lopez.

[quote] Serena has just pulled out.

Something none of these girls have experienced!

left knee injury. Hopefully Serena will be ready for the clay. She didn't look that great yesterday so not surprising something's wrong

I finally appreciate Serena's evil genius and how she makes a mockery out of the WTA tour. None of these blowhard commentators have the guts to state the obvious about the crap she pulls.

Carillo and Navratilova were both refreshingly honest on Serena's US Open behavior last year. To the point where they both got roasted .

Hsieh Su Wei breaks Osaka when she was serving for the match, and plays a phenomenal tiebreak (dictating Osaka in every rally) to take the second set.

Opelka seems to be a dick in the McEnroe/Tarango mode, just berated the umpire condescendingly telling him that he was embarrassing himself. Tthis was after Opelka had actually won the first set 6-4 against Schwartzman.

R433 I applaud Mary and Martina for criticizing her on court b.s It's the off court, blowing off the rest of the season, defaulting in tournament after tournament that doesn't get enough blow back. She came to Cincy a few years back and the word was already out she was going to the Kardashian wedding and predictably pulled out. That's totally unprofessional. When has Serena EVER supported the tour? She holds Billie Jean up as an inspiration - if only she understand her duty as a player to actually show up and attempt to win.

Hsieh is hitting some unbelievable shots, dictating play.

I want Hsieh to win a GS. Her tennis is so interesting.

Bye, Naomi.

R438 I like her play too but that's never gonna happen. Her 2nd serve is fucking awful.

And at 33 her best tennis is likely not going happen much longer.

Serenas best chance is Wimbledon and maybe the hardcourt slams for another slam. No chance at the French. She also has to do it in the next 2 yrs minimum.

Going happen.

Hsieh is currently the most entertaining player to watch on either ATP or WTA.

She's very old and has quite a frail body so she's not going to dominate every tournament week-in, week-out, but it's fascinating to watch her torture the top players with her bag of tricks. By the end of the match they often look like they're ready to leave tennis forever lol.

Nobody wants to see her name in their section of the draw.

It's a shame Hsieh didn't have much singles success when she was younger. She's great to watch.

I know this sounds weird given she's won two GSs but I'm not really convinced by Osaka. I don't buy all this "oh she's just shy and she's so young". She's TWENTY ONE YEARS OLD.

Not convinced on what? Maintaining success at the top of the sport? She is 21 so if she stays somewhat consistent I truly see her at least getting to near double digits in slam totals.

I think Osaka can maintain Top 5-10 status over the next several years but I don't see her getting anywhere near double-digit Grand Slam titles. The only players who have accomplished that are the truly great, and she's not one of them nor do I think she will be. Remember that Venus only got 7. There are just too many players with similar styles and skill levels so there are going to be Ostapenkos and Stephenses grabbing a title here and there. I don't know who the next great player will be but I don't see her out there now.

Shes only 21 and already has 2. Never know what'll happen.

I don't think you can count on anybody getting double digit slams this early on. Osaka is 21 and has three titles (Indian Wells and the AO and USO).

Venus was that age when she became #1 too, and she had FOUR grand slams (having defended both successfully) and even more in doubles, the Olympic Gold in singles and doubles, and TWENTY ONE titles overall... many of them big ones - she had already won Miami THREE times. She also went on a match-win streak nobody has matched since (not even Serena) and was only ever vulnerable to the top players.

There will always be other factors (like injuries) but even more so, others coming up and finding their form too. Anisimova, Yastremska, Andreescu etc. are already making waves as teenagers but at some point even the players from Naomi's generation like Barty and Sabalenka are going to at least put a good run together. And then there are all the junior stars AND players we don't even know about yet (just like we didn't know about Naomi 3 years ago because she wasn't in juniors).

And Venus did it on a way more competitive wta. With some veterans that were still dangerous and a good bunch of new players. The difference is that back there top players were consistent, right now a good player only needs two good weeks to win a GS. There's a good bunch of players with more than one GS that made very little outside those GS

Menawhile on the atp to win a GS you need to defeat three legends with very different games

Anderson def. annoying grunter Munar in 3 sets. When Ferrer and Nadal retire, Munar will keep that Spanish tradition alive

Opelka def. Schwartzman in 3. Hilarious handshake given the height disparity

Rublev straight sets Cilic who is off to a very poor start this season

Does Federer's lower body look a little heavier than usual or is it the shorts?

R452 He's been eating Mirka's old treats!

Federer playing like he'd rather be elsewhere.

Count me as another non fan of Opelka. Entitled, spoiled asshole and almost Sam Querry unattractive.

Old man fed pulled it off.

Tsitsipas def. McDonald in straights 1 tiebreaker

commentators reporting A. Zverev has now grown close to Federer and Djokovic. He gets advice from them after a close loss too

What so hot about the video in r404? I feel like I'm missing something.

Tiafoe def. Kecmanovic in 2 tiebreaks. It looked like they were going to make out afterwards during the embrace. Tiafoe has some kind of leg issue, possibly a cramp

I think that net embrace included Tiafoe's apology for inadvertently beaning Kecmanvoc in the balls with a volley early in the match. Kecmanovic was writhing on the ground in pain.

Do either Isner or Tiafoe stand a chance of ever winning a GS?

No, R462.

Ferrer upsets A. Zverev 2-6 7-5 6-3 !!!!!!

Ferrer pronounces A. Zverev dead.

R463 I disagree about Tiafoe. Give him a few years. He's very talented. If he gets more focused he can win big titles.

Isner is a no.

So when can we expect a porn video from Sasha/girlfriend? Considering Ttisy is still in the tournament.

Tsitsipas - Shapovalov match could be on the horizon. Could be interesting.

Opelka is obviously the best young American and the only consistent one. But his whiny attitude could hold him back. He needs to drop that.

Watch Ferrer get his ranking back into the top 100 and then keep on playing. Screw retirement.

Kyrgios.

Did the announcer on the Tennis Channel just say that Bouchard should be a “cautionary tale” to Andreescu? Chrissy must be getting him fired as I type.

R472- Cautionary tale? BA doesn't seem to be taking time out to model for magazines. Instead, Andreescu apparently has her own notes on her opponents' game plans that she constantly studies.

I doubt she needs any to hear any cautionary tales.

Nadal was right.

Can Bianca pull out another surprise victory? She is mentally and physically exhausted

Kerber seems clueless what to do against Andreescu. Part of it has gotten mental now. She had a chance to win IW but this match is definitely more 1 sided. At times it seems like Andreescu is just toying with her

Andrea is going to tank this just like Sablenka did last week. Kerber did not do anything in the last two games. It was all Andrea's fault. Kerber was down and out

sigh

wow the match just TURNED

Are there even 100 people left in the stands at that match?

Match didn't turn. Biance shat her pants

When Kerber was down a set and two breaks, she was limping and near tears.

Kerber is in her I Don't Really Care But I'm Starting to Hate This Canadian Bitch mode tonight.

Loser limp. And now she is moving like a rabbit

Remember two years back Kerber retired against Bouchard when Bouchard was leading 6-3,5-1

Ted Robinson was blathering about how Kerber/Andreescu shouldn't be a third-round match at a premier tourney 6 days after they played the final of the previous premier tourney -- if he didn't come right out and say that after the Indian Wells final, the Miami tourney should have re-seeded and revised the draw, I sure as hell inferred that.

Paul Annacone did nothing to stop him -- whereas he could have pointed out that Andreescu's ranking is now in the mid-20s and she would be playing to her seeding in a third-round match.

I’m curious how a Andreescu-Kasatkina match would look. They’ve got similar styles. Bianca’s got more power, especially on her serve, but Diarrhea is slightly more crafty and graceful around the court. It seems like the two ladies would be covering every inch of the court playing each other.

R486, no Kerber is ranked no 4[top8]. Top 8 are pitted against [25-32] while [9-16] are pitted against [17-24]. This has been going on for a couple of years. Grand Slams follow this too. Bianca is ranked 24

Even in Round of 16 top 4 plays [13-16] while [5-8] plays[9-12].Earlier it was not like that

That bathroom break before the 3rd set really helped Andreescu regain her game while Kerber has just completely fallen apart after the first game.

I really want to see Andreescu play Halep. I'm curious how the Romanian fans would react. The other day against Begu, Andreescu was getting cheered on by both Canadian and Romanian fans.

Isn't Halep the one who told Bianca to go pro? Maybe she'll regret that advice.

lmfao Kerber gave a very quick handshake and didn't seem happy. I think she was annoyed with Andreescu's medical timeouts for her arm

Kerber is a bitch and a sore loser. Bye!!!!!

I don't follow tennis that closely. How many medical time outs is a player allowed? And how do they know a player really has a medical issue--does it have to be documented before the game starts?

Such a rude handshake from Kerber. Sorry she outplayed you in sets one and 3, pusher!

Kerber has obviously attended the Genie Bouchard How To Disrespect Your Opponent With No Handshake course.

Kerber (supposedly to Andreescu): You are the Biggest drama queen.

Multiple suspicious MTOs and one long bathroom break for Andreescu tonight.

"Pretty sure Kerber told Andreescu that she's the "biggest drama queen ever" during the handshake."

WTF. Talk about a poor loser.

Yas, drag her Kerber! I love cunty Kerber.

Cause Kerber has never been a drama queen on the court lol. This 18 yr old has played a lot of tennis, which she isnt used to, and has had her shoulder strapped for the last few matches. She probably has a minor injury so time outside when allowed arent against any rules. Kerber is just a poor sport and unfortunately her pushing the ball back didnt work for her.

*time outs

BA played within the rules of the game. Too bad Kerber can't change the rules to suit her when she's losing. Kerber has already seen how Andreescu can rally from being an inch away from losing a match so why is she so pissed?

Weren’t BA’s medical timeouts called when Bianca was ahead? What’s the accusation exactly?

Oh, well.

KERBER LOST!!! AGAIN!!!

Ben is outraged by Kerber right now.

Speaking of poor sports, I guess the outburst from Kyrgios at R471 is so unremarkable that it's just status quo for him. He needs to be suspended.

Bianca's in Kerber's head now. The second set wasn't so much Kerber elevating her game, it was BA getting frustrated and impatient and shitting the bed.

Women like Kerber should be the last one to bitch about a bathroom break. Just two months ago she took a bathroom break timeout after getting bagelled 6-0 by confident Collins in the first set. That set lasted less than 25 mins

Who's Ben?

R504, The reason he doesn't get suspended because people knows he is low life trash. that kind of behavior is expected from people like him. Just look at his mother

The Hedda Hooper of the contemporary professional tennis circuit.

So Bianca's MTOs were taken when she was ahead? If she was faking, why would she take them when she was ahead, if that's what Kerber is implying.

Kerber is playing a lot of mix doubles with Sasha Z for the last 2 years. Maybe he has rubbed his cuntiness on her

Sour grapes.

Kerber probably resented the hell out of Andreescu last week but she had to eat it because of the awards ceremony. So tonight she couldn’t/didn’t hold back any longer.

Here's with the audio. Kerber saying "you are the biggest drama queen ever." LOL

omg wow

remember Angie you're 31 and this is an 18 year old girl whose arm probably does really hurt after all that tennis

Love Ferrer beating Zverev. Last time they played, Zverev beat him and gave him a racquet as some kind of consolation gift, the arrogant fucking prick.

R469: In which universe is Opelka better than Tiafoe. Frances did a lot more and both have the same age.

Opelka is just the typical american player with a big serve and forehand, he will do a good Wimbledon in his career and that's all

And Sascha will release a new video with the girlfriend soon. Losing to Ferrer is all kinds of pathetic, David was a warrior, a player who won beyond his talent because his determination, but he is old, he keeps fighting but he is not the shadow of the player he was. And this is hard courts were Zverev would be the favourite even in David's good old days. With that and the fact that Tsitsipas stays in the competition will be more than enough for an internet meltdown in the form of cheesy video

I read like multiple accounts of Daveed being a chain smoker. I was like quite shocked when I read that. There was also an account of someone having seen him smoking cigarettes at the change of ends. Like, I mean, like tell me it was all an urban legend!

Tiafoe is a dumbass just like Opelka. Tiafoe's forehand technique will get him nowhere.

The technique has zero importance if the groundstroke is effective.

The Williams are not exactly the players with better technique and that didn't stopped them from winning GS

Besides which anyone using the term "dumbass" has no room to criticize.

I'm not someone who cares about the aesthetics of shot, but Tiafoe's forehand looks a bit scary from the wrist health perspective.

Some of the worst technique on a forehand I've ever seen was Steffi Graf. It didn't stop it from being an all-time great shot.

You're right, R488 -- but my point wasn't that Andreescu would be playing Kerber again, but that Andreescu would be playing to her seeding as #23 or 24. Guess I wasn't clear on that. I'm not sure if Robinson thought that Kerber shouldn't be playing Andreescu again so soon because of the ranking changes -- he wasn't clear about that (at least not to me), and Annacone didn't question him to explain further.

Andreescu didn’t hear Kerber’s insult clearly at the net.

Is Opelka like 6'10"? He sounded like a moron in his post-match interview. I think there should be a height restriction. 6'10" is really an unfair advantage.

Opelka is 6’11”

Opelka combines the worst qualities of Querrey, Isner and Tarango.

Tarango, R528! There's a name I haven't thought about it forever, LOL. He was quite the whiny bitch!

R529 Not as much as I was

Tarango will undoubtedly be fined for his conduct, which he later admitted was "pretty crazy". But his 30-year-old French wife, Benedicte, was unrepentant when she gatecrashed her husband's press conference after the court drama.

Tanned and chic in a white suit, Mrs Tarango admitted that she had confronted the umpire, and had attempted to slap him. Her voice quivering with anger, she said: "I don't think that's bad. This guy deserved a lesson." Tarango was asked what he thought of his wife's conduct. "She's French," he said. "And I'm still learning the culture."

Hope Isner loses. How far would his ranking fall if he did?

Not that far, unfortunately, R532--Isner would drop 4 or 5 spots from 9th to 13th or 14th if he lost to Ramos-Vinolas today.

[quote] Isn't Halep the one who told Bianca to go pro? Maybe she'll regret that advice.

Thanks for the Help!

Angie Kerber is just going to pretend like nothing happened last night. She tweeted this two hours ago:

Tough battle out there last night @miamiopen! Congrats to Bianca @Bandreescu_ for a great performance and a well deserved win. 👍

R535- She's not fooling anyone. She got raked over the coals for her drama queen comment, so now she's having second thoughts about it. Too late.

R532: Number 12

Well, maybe that was a comment on the heat of the moment and now she is able to admit she was wrong. Of course that would work way better with a proper apology

R537: Well, 12 is his live ranking position right now, he could drop further if Coric, Medvedev or Raonic reach the final rounds, but i don't think that'll happen

R538- The problem is that she didn't say that it was a comment in the heat of the moment and then offer an apology. She's trying to pretend that she acted with good sportsmanship. She clearly needs a better PR team advising her.

Collins is one set down to Wang. Quick! American sweetheart needs your support!

Looks like its gonna be Wang vs Wang! Mrs. Court, would you like to weigh in on this?

Wang to Collins at the handshake: "You are the biggest drama queen ever."

She can congratulate her on the quality of her win and think she's a drama queen. It's not mutually exclusive.

Bye Collins!

I'm actually looking forward to Q. Wang vs. Y. Wang in the next round. Both have shown a lot of improvement in the last year. For those who like glamour girls, Qiang is pretty

Two Wangs this DEEP into a WTA event. A refreshing change if you ask me!

R542 There! Are you happy?

and Ramos-Vinolas loses as he misses 1 of the easiest forehands anyone (even a weekend warrior) could miss after setting it up with a decent serve that earned a weak reply by Isner.

Isner does well when he gets easy draws. ugh hopefully Raonic will beat Edmund now and then take care of him in the next round

Two Wangs this DEEP into a WTA player.

There, Mrs. Court, AKA R547 -- fixed it for you.

Too on the nose, dear. That was implied already.

Azarenka/Barty very unlucky in that 2nd set. They should've been ahead 4-2 not down 5-1. Another unnecessary match tiebreak for them.

Wow. And again on the first point of the tiebreak, Azarenka drills an easy volley into the net. Yikes!

Again! How are they losing these points?

well this is why Azarenka is struggling against top players this year in singles

offcourse Nick Krygois had to take a swipe at Kerber for her tweet.

Kerber may a C--- but she is still way better than that trash Nick K

I'm really liking Nick more and more.

R555 Actually Barty was the problem most of the time. Azarenka (in singles) has had a lot of trouble finishing points she should win, though. Point taken.

Azarenka in singles these days just looks really unprepared.

Like she's lacking fitness or practice even though we know she's practising all the time and is as fit as she ever was. It's so odd. She's a shadow of her former self. She plays as if she's carrying a major injury. She's so... slow these days.

It's horrible to see.

Well then uh, bruh at R557, you must really really like him at R472.

That is, at R471....

It's not the messenger we'd prefer, but i'm glad someone is calling Kerber out for that non-apology.

Wang vs. Wang

That's the most Wang we've had on a tennis court since Lleyton retired.

[quote]Tiafoe def. Kecmanovic in 2 tiebreaks. It looked like they were going to make out afterwards during the embrace

I was thinking the same. It was a sweet moment though

Is it Number Wang?

Nick Kyrgios is a stain on both tennis and humanity.

Well, they are around the same age, both were top junior players and Kecmanovic trains in the USA. They probably know each other for years

The likely discussion during the embrace was Tiafoe's apology for hitting Kecmanovic in the balls with an unfortunately placed volley while both were at net. Kecmanovic was writhing and rolling around on the ground in so much pain that an official came out to help him up and make sure that he didn't need medical attention.

I genuinely think Nick Kyrgios is becoming more popular with the tennis public as we learn more about him.

He's obv very popular among his peers and he's recently shown a more rounded character. Yes he has his foul-mouthed outbursts (for which he is fines) but he also increasingly comes across as a "good bloke".

His talent is undeniable and I'm glad he's starting to show a bit more of that and people are seeing more of his game.

And he totally OWNED Kerber with that tweet.

Kyrgios can be funny but he needs a bark collar for that lip.

He didn't "own" her because he has no position from which to criticize anyone about anything. He's a complete asshole so he has no room calling anyone else out. He just needs to self-combust in his own grease fire, preferably on court.

R571 He called her out for her phony tweet. She'd have been better off not saying anything.

And of course he's in a position to criticise - you think he'd have posted something so false had he just slagged off his opponent at the net?

No. He wouldn't.

Kerber is taking a beating in the twitter comments. For someone who is allegedly one of the nicer players on the WTA, she revealed her true nature this morning.

Kyrgios put his foot in his mouth a lot of times, and he made some serious mistakes like the incident with Wawrinka, but i like that he is not on the urge to be loved by the crowds and that he has no problem in speaking his mind.

Other player after the incident with Nadal would apologize because people seem to fear to contradict the sacred cows, but he didn't.

I think some tennis fans were so used to the Nadal/Federer PC speech (which is void most of the times) that the can't get anything less correct.

Sometimes once you get that clean image you can do whatever you want, like Nadal being critic of women bein paid equally without any backlash while Djokovic was trashed for saying the same

R573: Let's not exagerate. Nobody is pure 100%, you can be nice and let the frustration take the best of you from time to time

R573 Yeah she really fucked up.

Big mistake. Huge.

The winner of the FAA/Hurkacz will be a top 50 player

R575 I can see why people are going on about it though.

It's surprising cos it's Kerber who as a previous poster said is thought to be one of the nicer players on the tour. It's also a bit shit to be slagging off someone so young who's really had some impressive results recently so is in the public consciousness.

Kerber is supposed to be a veteran of the tour. She's supposed to be an example to the new generation, not insulting them at the net.

New thread with new cover boy.

[quote]Isner does well when he gets easy draws. ugh hopefully Raonic will beat Edmund now and then take care of him in the next round

Edmund won! 6-4 6-4

R580 I have no expectations that Edmund will beat Isner

If he was able to beat Raonic he could beat Isner

Nico Basil Won

Only breaks so far in the Venus vs Kasatkina match.

HH or FCC?

FAA?

FAT.

Old, crippled Venus (bandaged from head to toe) just beat Kasatkina 6-3, 6-1. Kasatkina didn't hold serve once in the entire match. Venus was smiling the whole match, she looks shocked to be beating so many players in this condition.

Halep survives a scare against LL Polona Hercog, who was outplaying her until the 2nd set tiebreak (which Halep won on her errors). In the 3rd set, Hercog ran out of gas.

Putin defeats #11 seed Sevastova in 3 tight sets. Lives to see another day and another bad handshake most likely.

Vondrousova defeats #16 seed, Doha champion Elise Mertens. Having a really good run after already going deep in Indian Wells. Could be the next big Czech star after Barbie, Kvitova and the Pliskovas retire.

Tennis.

Sandgren?

Yes, R591.

That Polish boy Hurkacz is on right now against FAA. You know that cock has got to be enormous.

I'll be very surprised if Edmund is able to defeat Isner. I didn't see his match today but I'm surprised he beat Raonic. Last time I saw Edmund play, he didn't have that great of a return-of-serve.

FAA!!!

Titsy!

Nole!

Félix!

Equine Angie!

yay for FAA. Such a breath of fresh air to see a #NextGen guy doing well

Puig!